The next morning, Yuji was there before everyone else, bandages tight around his wrists and the inside of his right arm. The small line Aiko had drawn the night before was gone, but it still burned in his memory.
Hana arrived with a firm stride, her duffel bag slung over her shoulder.
"You're early, Itadori."
"I needed to talk to you."
She set the bag down, studied him for a second. A short smile, more habit than warmth.
"You disappeared yesterday. Okay, talk now."
Yuji didn't beat around the bush.
"What happened yesterday won't happen again. Actually, it didn't happen and it won't happen. Not with you."
A pause, a breath gathered. "I'm with Aiko. She's my girlfriend. I only want her."
Hana raised an eyebrow but didn't move an inch.
"Playing the saint, Itadori? I only raised my hand. I didn't ask you to swear at the altar. I just wanted one night, that's all. Nobody would ever know."
"It's not an altar. It's a boundary. And I wouldn't cross it with you, not even if you paid me."
Yuji looked straight at her. His voice was flat, with no sharp edges. "If I gave you the wrong signal, I'm sorry. I hesitated for a second, that's it. That second ends here."
She tilted her head. "And if you're just protecting yourself from yourself?"
"If that's the case, then I'm doing the right thing."
A second, then he added: "I'm not making excuses. I don't want ambiguity with you. In training we can work well together, if you want. Outside of here, no invitations, no messages, no 'maybe.' It's a no. Do you understand?"
Hana's smile thinned, almost vanished.
"I understand."
But her eyes shone with a subtle challenge. "And if one day you get tired of the straight line?"
Yuji lowered his chin slightly, like a bow that closes without offending.
"When I get tired, I'll run. But not toward you. Not now, not later. It's not a 'maybe.'"
Silence. The dojo's breath seemed to stretch between them.
Hana let the bag slide from her shoulder. "So we stay… professional."
"Yes."
"And if I look at you?"
"You can look at whoever you want. But I won't answer."
"Not even with half a smile?"
"Not even half. You're not my type."
Her lips quivered with the shadow of a laugh, but it never came.
"You're tougher than you look, Itadori."
"No. I'm just clear."
Hana nodded once.
"Okay. Got it. No 'maybe,' no 'later.' Your Aiko can sleep easy."
Yuji didn't bite at the provocation. "It's not about letting her sleep easy. It's about looking at myself in the mirror."
For the first time, Hana's gaze lost its edge and lay bare.
"Then, good luck."
"You too," Yuji said sincerely. "I mean that without irony."
She gathered her hair up, snapped the elastic closed with a sharp motion.
"Good. Then warm up, the others will be here soon. And don't go easy on me just because we talked face to face."
"Trust me, that won't happen."
Hana walked past him without touching. She paused for a moment, as if to make sure his words had truly landed. Then she went toward the center of the tatami.
Yuji stayed where he was, pulling out his phone.
He typed: "Done."
Then, after a second, he added: "Clear and respectful."
He put the phone away. Inhaled. He felt the second that had tormented him had gone back to its place: the past. Gojo came in, humming something off-key, Nobara right behind with a threat about the improper use of sake, and Megumi with the look of someone who always wonders why it's still too early.
Yuji stepped to the center. Hana looked at him for an instant. Meanwhile, the light had grown sharper on the wooden planks. There was no triumph. There was simply choice. Repeated, spoken firmly.
***
Aiko's phone buzzed as she was putting away the glasses. On the screen, a single word: "Done." She drew a slow breath, closed her eyes for a moment. Good. Then she replied:
"Call me tonight… I'll text you as soon as I'm done."
***
The call came at 9:30 PM, right after Aiko's message. She was in her room, disheveled, lustful, and beautiful. She was wearing only a turquoise lace set, the kind with a string thong and balconette that showed off her magnificent breasts.
"Hey…," she sighed, whispering softly.
"Hey..." said Yuji, his voice bright. Then he went on: "Everything okay?"
"Oh yes, yes… a little tired but it's ok… and you?"
She asked him, while touching herself with one hand over her panties.
"I'm good too, I just finished training not long ago, really wore myself out today," he replied.
"But did you… take your shirt off?" Aiko asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"Just… I'm trying to imagine if you're sweaty… with flushed cheeks and out of breath…"
"I was, yes. Now I'm just... tired. Half naked. And with you on my mind."
She didn't answer right away. But the line remained active. Then there was a rustling. Like sheets shifting.
Yuji swallowed.
"Are you...under the sheets?"
"Uh. Yes. In a turquoise lace thong and with hands that don't know where to be."
There was a silence, a long one.
"What... what are you doing now?" Yuji asked.
"Now... now I'm thinking about you. And I think about how much you turn me on..." Aiko replied, panting.
"Oh, Aiko..." Yuji whispered, sliding his pants to the floor. "What are you wearing now?"
"I told you, darling... a turquoise lace set... and a tight, sexy thong."
"Mmm... I can already imagine those huge tits in that skimpy bra," he whispered.
Aiko took a picture and sent it to him.
"Look! They're not huge! They're in proportion to my body," she replied, smiling. "You like them... big, huh? What would you do with them now?"
"What wouldn't I do to you… Aiko… You make me horny as hell…" A pause. "Are you touching them?" he asked, his voice breaking.
"Yes, right now. And you… are you touching yourself, Yuji?"
"Of course… With your photo as the background…" he replied.
"You want to put your cock between… my tits… right?"
"Oh... Aiko... how foul-mouthed and slutty you are..."
"Of course you'd like it..." she replied. She inserted two fingers, all the way in.
"Please, next time...I want to see you dressed like a schoolteacher...a slut...just for me. I'll...tell you...what to wear."
"Of course...anything you want..." replied Aiko, spreading her legs even wider.
A pause. Then he added:
"Take it all off... now..."
"Okay... don't go... anywhere... stay here." she replied.
She put the phone on the bed. She took it all off, completely naked. He, on the other end, did the same.
"Is it hot...?" he asked, his voice faint. So sexy.
"Yes... and it's starting to get really wet..." a pause. Then: "What about... you? You're hard, aren't you?"
"Oh... I'm... touching myself like crazy... I want you so much, Aiko..."
Aiko increased her movements on her clit, tilting her head back. She was dripping wet, her pussy was wide open, and she just wanted to be pounded hard. Yuji, on the other hand, could feel it throbbing. He was lying on the bed with his left elbow propped up and he imagined her on top of him.
"Now I've put my fingers... inside... ah... I'm getting... even wetter..."
A pause. All that could be heard was their breathing.
"I need... you... and your cock... Yuji..." A slightly louder moan. Then: "I want your face... between my legs... my legs... around your face..."
Aiko began to breathe heavily. Then she continued: "I want... your tongue in my pussy... all the way inside... all the way..."
"Oh Aiko... now I'll come to you... and I'll cum inside you..."
"Yuji... I want you to take me...from the hips...especially from behind...Oh, I need your cock...as soon as we meet..."
"Oh yes, I'll make you keep your legs open for a whole day..."
"Yuji, I'm going... faster... darling..."
Aiko took her dildo, put it in her mouth, and sucked it. Yuji, on the other end of the phone, listened:
"Oh...next time...I'd like you...in my mouth..."
Then she put it in her pussy. But they couldn't hold out another minute.
"Yuji...I'm coming...I'm coming!!" she exclaimed.
"Me too...too..."
They exploded together, they could hear each other on the phone. She had one hand over her mouth, breathing heavily, the dildo still pumping in and out as it splashed water on the floor. He had finished on the table, on a napkin. Every moan was a caress in Aiko's ears.
"Oh Yuji... are you still cumming?" Aiko asked, sitting on the floor, her knees bent.
"Oh my God... I came... like crazy... God damn..." he replied, his voice was calmer and more relaxed.
***
Yuji stared at the ceiling. His breathing still uneven, but slowing. Calm. The phone rested close to his face, the line still open. On the other end, Aiko's breathing was there too—deep, the kind that comes after you've given yourself, not just with the body, but with the voice, the mind, every inch of who you are.
They didn't speak. They didn't need to.
Aiko was the first to move. A rustle of sheets, a soft, held sigh.
"Are you still here?"
Yuji closed his eyes
"I am. But you're still everywhere."
She smiled—it was clear in her tone.
"That was… intense. Very...intense."
"I don't know if I can sleep now."
"Me neither. But don't hang up…"
Yuji picked up the phone, set it on his chest, and rolled over in bed.
"I wish I could have touched you. Completely. You don't know how much I wanted to. But… even like this, it felt real."
"It was."
A silence filled with imagined skin. With touches held in suspension.
"Were you trembling?" she asked softly.
Yuji smiled.
"A little. You?"
"Even now."
Then there was a pause. Not heavy, but full of thoughts. He was the one to break it.
"I…I think…I think I love you, Aiko. No. I mean…truly."
She lowered her voice. "Yuji…"
"I don't want it to sound like something said just after… after this. It's that… before, I wanted you. Now I need to hold you."
She closed her eyes. Even if she couldn't see him, she imagined him exactly as he was: his brow slightly furrowed, his voice lower than usual, and all the love filling his lungs.
"I wish I were there," she whispered.
"Yes. Even just to fall asleep on you."
"Or to touch you again," she answered.
"That too. But mostly to fall asleep while you breathe."
Then, slowly, their voices grew quieter. Now and then a line, half a smile, a distant sound in the night. But the thread never broke. They stayed there, connected. Two phones. Two beds. One heart shared. And neither of them had nightmares again.